Socio-volitional Theory of Positive National Legal Order in the Teachings of Warsaw Lawyers in 1807–1831

Abstract

The article considers the formation of the idea of national legal order in the teachings of Warsaw lawyers in 1807–1831 as a positive, concrete-social, formed on the basis of the realization of the will of society to state building and law-making. It is shown that the period under consideration is characterized by the formation of a new quality of thinking of lawyers who sought to master the world of law on non-metaphysical, positivist, social worldview bases. And the main element of the first conceptualized strictly legal picture of the world became the national legal order. The social-volitional theory of Warsaw lawyers proclaimed the conscious creation of law by the people through the collective will as the realization of individual and collective freedom to meet social needs and to realize the ideals. Th e presumptions of this theory were: the equality of peoples as bearers of public will, their right to determine the form and content of their laws, as well as the demand for statehood as a political self-determination of the people.